Saturdays at 8:00 pm
Put yourself in the room where live folk music thrives
Folkstage is a one-hour concert series featuring the finest traditional and singer-songwriter talent in folk music. Each year, some two dozen concerts come to you live from local venues or WFMT's studio. Previous live performers include Dom Flemons, Connie Kaldor, Bonnie Koloc, Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards, Jim & Susie Malcolm, Abby Posner, and many more. Additional episodes feature selections from 45 years of archival performances, including from the Old Town School of Folk Music.
You might also like The Midnight Special, a thematic mix of folk music and more every Saturday night from 9 pm to midnight after Folkstage.
Folkstage is available for free streaming in two different ways – live during the broadcast and on demand via the rights-compliant 5-hour, non-interactive player below within two weeks of the broadcast.
Cheryl Wheeler From the Archives
Among the first performers to visit Folkstage in 1998, Cheryl Wheeler cast her spell over the audience with self-deprecating humor and songs of deep feeling.
Miles & Mafale LIVE on WFMT
Catherine Miles and Jay Mafale are husband and wife, co-conspirators, and storytellers who deliver modern folk with a sparkling flair that springs from their theater backgrounds.
Kenny White From the Archives
Expansive, imaginative, pyrotechnic, Kenny White’s music filled the Acoustic Renaissance Concerts in Hinsdale in 2021. “A Road Less Traveled” leads to Kenny’s signature tune “In My Recurring Dream.”
Cassie & Maggie From the Archives
Sisters from Nova Scotia, Cassie and Maggie, put on a dazzling show of traditional music, contemporary folk songs, and their originals in 2016. Their new album entitled “Gold and Coal” is out now.
Woodstock Folk Fest preview LIVE on WFMT
Two outstanding songwriters – Mercedes Escobar from Guatemala and Joy Clark from New Orleans – turn up the heat with luminous vocals and boundless energy in a preview of the 40th Annual Woodstock Folk Festival on the eve of the fest in historic Woodstock, Illinois.
Elexa Dawson and Jacob Furr LIVE on WFMT
A member of the Potawatomi and Cherokee nations, Kansas songwriter Elexa Dawson is a voice for the ages. Jacob Furr from Texas brings his wide open, highly personal songs to Chicago from the Lone Star State.
